SCS Siege of Ust Natha in Legacy of Bhaal Mode

April 21, 2017, 4:10 pm

≫ Next: Helm of opposite alignment question

I promised to post an in-depth analysis of SCS' Siege of Ust Natha, which I managed to complete in Legacy of Bhaal mode with minimal metagaming (I knew very little about the fight before I started) and no reloads besides some crashes and bug-related problems. I already discussed my own experience in depth, including the bugs, in 12 lengthy comments, but here I want to discuss the challenge in more general terms. Note that my findings here only apply to Legacy of Bhaal mode; other difficulty levels will play very differently. You can find all 12 posts here:

I used several exploits/tricks/glitches in my run, and exploits are normal for this fight, as it is not supposed to be beatable using normal means...

It's not exactly designed to be impossible; it's more that it's not designed to be possible (if that distinction makes sense). It's intentionally way more enemies than is reasonable at that level.

...but I wanted to explain how the player can win the fight without using those exploits. These are the tricks that I used:

1. The Wand of Lightning trick. If you have a character using the Wand of Lightning's six charges on him or herself before using an on-self spell or item, you can multiply the effects by 6. Thus, you can cast six Sunfire spells at once, six Wishes at once, or drink six potions at once while only expending one. In my install, Item Revisions nerfed it to only 3 targets.
2. The Bigby's Crushing Hand+Spell Trap trick, which @Demivrgvs plans on closing in the next version of Spell Revisions. By having one mage cast Bigby's Crushing Hand on another mage and then having the second mage cast Spell Trap, the first mage can use a single level 9 spell slot to restore multiple level 9 spell slots for the second mage. This is very time-consuming and leaves both mages vulnerable. It may or may not be possible without Spell Revisions.
3. A bug allowed the Hardiness spell from Wish to stack on everyone except for the caster.
4. Use Any Item allowed me to equip an Earth Elemental Token from SCS' Improved Shapeshifting component, which, combined with several items from Item Revisions, boosted one character's physical damage resistance to 90% without needing any buffs.
5. The Seducer kit. An early version of the kit could charm groups of enemies despite their MR, spell protections, and immunities, at the cost of preventing the Seducer from attacking and imposing AC and movement rate penalties.
6. A bug of some sort allowed me to summon multiple Devas and Planetars.
7. My party was imported and had 1.5 million XP at the beginning of the game.
8. A bug allowed my Simulacrum clones to use HLAs such as Dragon's Breath. In my install, they were supposed to be usable only by the original caster.

If you wanted to avoid using these tricks, you could replicate them through normal means:

1. Having a second sorcerer in the party and/or using Project Image to continue casting Wish would ensure successful Wish-resting without the Wand of Lightning trick.
2. Having more than one mage would make the Bigby's Crushing Hand+Spell Trap trick unnecessary. Also, a level 35 sorcerer can gain infinite spells using a Simulacrum clone, as a level 35 mage will get a level 18 Simulacrum that can therefore cast level 9 spells and restore Wish spells on the caster using Spell Trap.
3 and 4. I will discuss alternative means of tanking below.
5. The current version of the Seducer kit uses an area-effect Feeblemind spell rather than a charm effect.
6. Project Image clones can summon multiple celestials, and there are mods that remove summoning cap on both normal creatures and celestials. Also, having more fighter levels in the party (no one in my party had any fighter levels) would obviate the need for extra celestials.
7. My party never went past the first level of Watcher's Keep, which could have granted far more XP than I had imported.
8. With the right SCS install, HLAs like Dragon's Breath are level 9 spells and high-level Simulacrums can therefore use them normally.

I had 5 characters at about 9 million XP apiece. Having 6 characters at 6 million XP would be a reasonable minimum before tackling the Siege of Ust Natha in LoB mode. There are four primary threats that you have to deal with.

Threat 1: Duration

The Siege of Ust Natha is an extremely lengthy fight. Buffing spells will run out long before the fight is over, so parties that rely heavily on short-term buffs will find themselves extremely vulnerable in the late stages of the fight.

The party needs to have sustainable damage output and sustainable defenses. PFMW will not be enough to keep the party alive, and emptying your spellbook via Improved Alacrity will only give you a temporary reprieve from the enemies. The party either needs to be extremely low-maintenance--that is, it does not require many spell slots to function at full capacity--or it needs to be able to restore its spell slots via Wish or Limited Wish. If you have two mages who can cast Wish, you can expect to get Wish-rests every few rounds, and you can be fairly sure you won't run out of spells midway through the siege. If you have one sorcerer who is level 35 or higher, you can use a Simulacrum clone and Spell Trap to restore your spell slots, guaranteeing a supply of infinite spells, but you won't be able to Wish-rest so often.

Threat 2: Damage

Mid-level drow fighters and clerics spawn every few rounds for the duration of the fight. They are equipped with +3 weapons and have -4 to -8 AC, 72+ magic resistance, and 300+ HP, along with +5 to saving throws, +1 to APR, and about 20 effective levels thanks to LoB bonuses. If you have Item Revisions installed, they will also have 15-25% physical damage resistance and +2 to hit and damage. Put together, the enemy has extremely high APR and is extremely difficult to kill. If the player does not kill the drow fast enough, they will build up and overwhelm the party with sheer numbers.

The party needs to be able to get past the enemy's massive MR and low AC. Skull Trap and Horrid Wilting spells will help, but it won't be enough, as the enemies will resist most of the damage. The party can get past the enemy's defenses if it can achieve high APR and low THAC0 without needing lots of buffs to maintain it. This means fighter levels will be crucial in thinning the enemy herd and minimizing the amount of pressure on your party.

There is a convenient choke point in the doorway to the northwest room where the Lesser Demon Lord first appeared. I used that room as a sanctuary, but you can also hole up in the treasury chamber, where the dragon eggs were hidden, or even form a wall of meat shields in the southeast hallway. All of these points will allow you to avoid getting surrounded and keep most of the enemies away from you. This decreases the pressure on your defenses, as most of the enemies use melee weapons.

Threat 3: Mages

Higher-level spellcasters will spawn less often during the fight, but they will use debuffing spells that could easily leave the party vulnerable. Bear in mind that LoB enemies get +12 levels apiece, so their Remove Magic spells will be far more effective than you might suspect. The mages will, of course, arrive fully buffed, and it will be difficult to stop them from dispelling your defenses.

The party either needs to be able to ward off enemy debuffers by re-casting SI: Abjuration or Dispelling Screen and the like, or it needs to be able to shut down enemy spellcasting without using up valuable rounds or spell slots. You can take down a mage in a single round if you use Secret Word, Pierce Magic, and two Breach spells in a row to break through the mage's PFMW pre-buff and PFMW Contingency, but that requires four party members to work in concert--which may not even be an option if one of the four needs to drink a potion or shore up their defenses.

Threat 4: Demons

Late in the fight, demons will enter the fray. In my case, I saw two Nabassus, two Glabrezus, and two Balors arrived on the field more or less simultaneously. All of them have instant-casting Remove Magic spells that cannot be stopped by spell failure, and the Balor will be casting the spell at well over level 30. If you left too many drow on the screen when the demons arrive, losing your defenses could prove fatal.

Party Options:

At root, the party's strategy needs to revolve around the ability to resist melee weapons, Remove Magic, and Breach. Most of the threat comes from swords and flails; the enemy does not rely heavily on spell damage or disablers. Unlike most high-difficulty fights in BG2, the Siege of Ust Natha revolves around attack rolls and AC, not saving throws and MR.

Think of the Siege of Ust Natha as if it were a major fight in Icewind Dale. The only difference, strategically speaking, is the existence of Remove Magic and Breach. So your party needs to be able to do several things:

1. Deal lots of nonmagical damage over a long period of time.
2. Maintain strong defenses over a long period of time.
3. Either shrug off Remove Magic and Breach, or operate at full capacity without using buffs that can be Breached or dispelled in the first place.

Utility characters like thieves will not be much use in this fight; it simply isn't suited to them. There are six different classes who are especially suited to this kind of challenge:

1. Fighter/Druid
2. Dwarven Defender
3. Barbarian
4. Bard
5. Sorcerer
6. Wild Mage
7. Fighter/Mage

The Fighter/Druid:

Fighter/Druids have one distinct advantage here: the ability to use Hardiness while in Earth Elemental form. Whether you're using vanilla shapeshifting or SCS' Improved Shapeshifting component, Earth Elemental form should grant 50% resistance to all forms of physical damage. A Fighter/Druid at 6 million XP can cast Hardiness about 6 times, so he or she would have undispellable 90% damage resistance for 60 rounds. This would not be enough to last the whole battle, but Wish-resting and Armor of Faith could keep the Fighter/Druid highly resistant for basically the entire battle. If you have Item Revisions installed, you can also stack the damage resistances from IR armors with an Earth Elemental Token, boosting your damage resistance to 100%.

On top of that, the Fighter/Druid will have undispellable 3 attacks per round at low THAC0 and high damage, which will help thin the enemy herd.

Fighter/Druids have never had the saving throws and anti-mage capabilities as other classes, but this weakness is largely irrelevant in the Siege of Ust Natha, in which the primary threat is weapon damage. Fighter/Druids will, however, have no defense whatsoever against Remove Magic, so Ironskins and similar buffs will not last long on them.

Characters with Use Any Item can also use an Earth Elemental Token.

The Dwarven Defender:

With 20% innate damage resistance, another 20% from the Defender of Easthaven, and 50% damage resistance from Defensive Stance, the Dwarven Defender will be able to maintain 90% damage resistance for almost the entire battle, just like the Fighter/Druid. For the purposes of this fight, their function is identical and they are about equally good at it.

The Barbarian:

Barbarians will also have 20% innate resistance and another 20% from the Defender of Easthaven, but they will have to use Hardiness instead of Defensive Stance, for a total of 80% damage resistance. Barbarians have higher STR and immunities than Dwarven Defenders, but they will not be nearly as effective, as 80% damage resistance means the Barbarian takes twice as much damage as a Dwarven Defender or Fighter/Druid (unless you have Item Revisions, in which case full plate mail or the Orc Leather +3 will grant 100% resistance to all three of them). Regardless, a Barbarian should be capable of withstanding enemy pressure for the duration of the fight despite Remove Magic and Breach, provided he or she has a lot of healing potions.

The Bard:

Bard songs no longer stack in EE, but the Improved Bard Song still grants +4 to hit, damage, and AC to all party members, which means a bard can substantially even the odds. Bard songs cannot be dispelled, do not require spell slots, and do not require the bard to use up his or her aura, so this is essentially a constant, guaranteed buff as long as the bard is alive.

However, bards have no damage resistance, at least not nearly enough to keep them alive in this fight. Instead, they need to use their mage spells to survive. Such defenses are dispellable, but a bard can easily hit level 50 by the time the party reaches the Underdark, which means a bard's defenses should be nearly immune to Remove Magic. Only Breach can render the bard vulnerable, so Spell Shield would be a staple of the bard's defenses.

The bard should either stay out of melee combat or ideally achieve extremely low AC. The Improved Bard Song gives +10 AC to the bard itself, so it's entirely possible for a bard's Mirror Images and Stoneskins to keep them safe.

But if the bard does get Breached or somehow dispelled, he or she will need a quick escape, as they will not have the resistances to survive long on their own.

The Sorcerer:

Sorcerers themselves will not usually be spectacular tanks in this fight. PFMW will make them totally immune to the enemy's weapons, but it only lasts 4 rounds. However, the sorcerer is extremely adept at Wish-resting and can restore the party's HLAs. Wish can also reduce the enemy's MR to 40, grant Hardiness to the party, grant Improved Haste to the party, heal everyone, or impose 100 intoxication on everyone in the area, which amounts to a crippling -12 luck penalty. Depending on your install, Slow Poison, Neutralize Poison, Greater Restoration, and Elixirs of Health can cure intoxication, and Wish intoxication can be blocked by MGOI or dispelled, so you can keep your party sober while the enemy suffers -12 to every attack and damage roll due to intoxication.

Being able to summon Planetars also helps even the odds, and if you're not worried about failing to get a Wish-rest, then your sorcerer can use Dragon's Breath on the drow, as it will bypass their magic resistance. Plus, Wish intoxication will cause any drunken enemies to suffer full damage from Dragon's Breath (100 on a successful save, 200 on a failed save).

The Wild Mage:

Wild Mages have the same function as sorcerers: Wish-resting first and foremost, but also Summon (Fallen) Planetar and Dragon's Breath. Wild Mages can use Nahal's Reckless Dweomer to cast Limited Wish to restore 4 Nahal's Reckless Dweomer spells, which means they are less likely to run out of level 9 spell slots before they get a Wish-rest, but the wild surges, as always, can make things worse. More importantly, getting a Wish scroll for your Wild Mage by the time you reach the Underdark is very difficult.

The Fighter/Mage:

Fighter/Mages have neither the Wish-resting ability of sorcerers or Wild Mages, the durability of Fighter/Druids, Dwarven Defenders, or Barbarians, or the bard's resistance to Remove Magic. They are conventionally powerful as always, with the caveat that they need to be especially careful if they want to hold onto their buffs.

The Invisibility Option:

This is untested, but theoretically, you could win the entire fight by relying on a Shadowdancer's Hide in Plain Sight or the Staff of the Magi, possibly combined with Non-Detection. The demons can easily see through your invisibility, but if you voluntarily let the drow crowd the entire map and surround you, the demons will not actually be able to reach you, allowing you to very slowly kill them with missile weapons before turning invisible again. Once the demons were gone, you could then kill the drow without fear of retribution.

The process would be extremely lengthy and would try any player's patience, but this should allow a solo character to win the Siege of Ust Natha.

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Helm of opposite alignment question

April 21, 2017, 5:13 pm

≫ Next: What exactly caused Cyric to go mad?

≪ Previous: SCS Siege of Ust Natha in Legacy of Bhaal Mode

I heard that there was a bug where your alignment could change permanently. Is this true and if so how do I trigger it? I'd like to make a blackguard who is "good." Headcanon of a guy who "kills all the evil" by embracing his bhaalspawn powers. Hence, blackguard. As I play on the iPhone only, I'd need to use a bug as I can't mod...any help here?

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What exactly caused Cyric to go mad?

April 22, 2017, 1:57 am

≫ Next: The General Questions Thread

≪ Previous: Helm of opposite alignment question

Hi guys and especially FR scholars, need some help here on Forgotten realm Lore for research.

What is it exactly that caused Cyric to go mad? I've read conflicting information about it, some of which are as follows:
1) Cyric read the book called the Cyrinishad (a magical tome which he made a scribe create for him) and this drove him insane
2) During a revolt in the City of Death against Cyric led by Mask who used Kelemvor's soul to gain the cooperation of Mystra, Torm, Oghma and Cyric's own high priest Fzoul Chembryl, great chaos was caused in two of Cyric's most important bases of faith: Zhentil Keep, and the City of Death. A great number of Cyric's follower lost their faith, thus greatly weakening Cyric himself. As a result, Cyric lost his mind and crushed his sword(Mask), which freed Kelemvor, and made his nightmare come true. (or did he lose his mind after his nightmare came true?)
3) Cyric went mad after he assassinated Mystra which caused the Spellplague and the collapse of the Weave.

Which of the above is correct? Or is there something else that drove him mad? Thanks a lot in advance.

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The General Questions Thread

May 21, 2014, 5:49 am

≫ Next: Outstanding issues with Enhanced Editions

≪ Previous: What exactly caused Cyric to go mad?

So I got to thinking, while I often have general questions about various aspects of the game, it's rather bothersome to clutter up the activity page with random questions, especially when I have as many as I do. So I came up with this idea. This is a general questions thread that anyone can contribute to, both with questions and answers. Ask a question, hopefully it'll be answered. (and with the efficiency of the community here, I wouldn't be surprised if it's answered rapidly.) I doubt things will become too cluttered, so it'll be a nice way for us to help each other out. Now, I don't THINK this has been done before, but if so, then do what needs to be done, dear mods, as you generally know best. Without further explanation, here's the first question I have.

If I were to complete Anomen's quest line, would he retain the stat boost if I teleport him to me in ToB? The character I'm working with would be unlikely to take him through all of SoA, but due to Aerie's... "problems" in ToB, my main character would want to leave her where she's safe, but that leaves a clerical gap in the party. Obviously Anomen would fill that hole nicely, but I don't know if he'll keep all of his bonuses from me completing his quest. In theory, I will be taking only five characters through the end of SoA, so if I have to bring Anomen along it's not a deal breaker, but for RP reasons it makes more sense to simply bring him to me when I need him.

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Outstanding issues with Enhanced Editions

April 23, 2017, 12:21 am

≫ Next: In defense of only one (more or less) fixed origin story for the main character.

≪ Previous: The General Questions Thread

1. UI. A thread utterly thrashing the UI was already made, but it bears repeating. And no, having a moddable UI is not an excuse to have bad default UI.
2. Pickpocket. A truly baffling change, where pickpocket now has a minimum threshold for working at all, in addition to still being a random success roll. I have absolutely no idea where this came from; pickpocket did not work that way in any of the original games and such behaviour was not even hinted at. Furthermore, this "feature" was apparently introduced in the laziest way possible, with the threshold value being set at 50 for all NPCs. Why was such a blatant ingerention in core game mechanics allowed, without even an option to turn it off?
3. ToB-style NPCs. In Baldur's Gate, NPCs existed in leveled up "versions" and the "version" closest to your level was the one you got when you met them for the first time. In BG2, if I remember correctly, NPCs were not leveled at all - if you left Cernd in his grove until after Underdark, he would be a piddly level Druid when you met him afterwards. In Throne of Bhaal, this was changed again so that while NPCs remain at their base level through the games, their individual level will be increased to the average party level when you recruit them. Then you can redistribute their proficiences, skills, etc. at your leisure. Hovewer, Enhanced Editions extend this behaviour to all NPCs across all the games, which is a problem for two reasons: One, it is seriously immersion-breaking to have (for example) Minsc jump from level 1 to 5 when you meet him. Yes, it's better for the player from the pure gameplay standpoint, because maybe you don't like his default level 5 proficiences and would like to pick something different. But at the same time, in the spirit of a cultivating suspension of disbelief in this role-playing game I'm playing, Minsc is his own character, he does his own "thing" and you shouldn't have full control over him, or any other NPC for that matter(In ToB this hardly mattered because there was almost no roleplaying involved anyway). The second problem the ToB-style NPCs bring to the games is that it's a way to basically generate XP out of thin air and potentially abuseable as hell. For example, you can play the game a bit solo gaining levels quickly, and THEN recruit party members, and they will all be granted "free" XP as the game will be pulling their levels up to match yours. Since the maximum party size is 6, this can more or less sextuple the amount of XP you've gained when playing solo for a while. And because the games are, in many ways, balanced around party sizes(smaller parties should level faster and be better equipped overall, and the opposite for large parties, with the tradeoff of having more characters to work with) this can potentially break the entire progression curve. "ToB-Style NPCs" was an optional component in both TuTu and Baldur's Gate Trilogy, and should absolutely remain an optional component in the Enhanced Edition games.
4. Spawns. In Enhanced Edition, spawns are based on party size, in addition to average level. This is not vanilla behaviour, and at least there should be an option to turn it off.

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In defense of only one (more or less) fixed origin story for the main character.

April 23, 2017, 4:00 pm

≫ Next: What makes you a Fallen Paladin in BG1 & BG2

≪ Previous: Outstanding issues with Enhanced Editions

Time and time again have I heard people mention how happy they are that the Dragon Age: Origins and Pillars of Eternities of the RPG world feature the option to choose from a selection of background stories for your main character.

Honestly, I am not a fan of this concept.

For some reason, I managed to replay the entire BG series more than a dozen times by now, with fundamentally different Player Characters. With DA:O and PoE I managed only one single full playthrough with each so far. Not for lack of trying, mind you.

Of course, the reasons for that are not wholy to blame on the origin stories, but I think they make for the main portion.
Let me elaborate.

In BG (and also Planescape: Torment, for that matter), you have one fixed origin story.
You are an orphaned child of a dead god raised by an old wizard and harper by the name of Gorion in a huge-ass library and castle south of the town of Baldur's Gate. You grew up secluded from the outside world, unknowing of your own heritage. Safe for some minor details (i.e. small-child-you stealing Khelben Blackstaff's cloak once) the rest is left up to the player's imagination and choice.

Imo, this is an ingenius set-up.
Since your character didn't choose that life of their own, pretty much any personality/race/gender/etc. (safe for age) can be written onto them without breaking/ changing the game/plot. Yet still, the entire game calls back to this origin on a multitude of occassions. You are Gorion's ward but you get to choose who Gorion's ward is.

In comparision, safe for some rather arbitrary dialogue options in PoE, the origin of your choice makes pretty much no difference. You are just A Dude™ who just happened to be there (which is also one of the things that always ruined the roleplaying bits of the Elder Scrolls games for me). Beyond anything that happens during the actual game, the Watcher has no notable agency, safe for what happens within the player's imagination. But honestly, the game didn't manage to stimulate my imagination in that direction. I was always just A Dude™, trying to find the plot.
Even worse, PoE does this twice, by letting you choose the background story of the Watcher's past life through some dialogue options which honestly felt like they made zero difference (wether or not they make an actual difference is irrelevant, what's important is that I as a player feel like it made one).

Then you have DA:O trying a different approach with the name giving origin stories. Depending on how fast you play, the first hour or so of the game will be fundamentally different from the rest of the game, depending on which race/class combination you choose during character creation. You can be a dwarven princess who gets caught up in some War of the Roses style political coup, a lower class elven townsman who's arranged marriage goes horribly wrong, a locked up mage who ... you get the idea.
These origin stories are awesome. But they imo don't make that much difference in the rest of the game, safe for some very specific quests (i.e. if you are a dwarven noble the return to Orzammar is gonna be different). This is of course hardly the fault of the origin stories themselves, but rather of the considerably way more linear story progression when compared to a BG2, for example. The main problem here is, that it's "quantity over quality", to a gegree (also the engine, there is this whole thing going on with more cinematic-y 3D games taking away a lot of the imagination, but I digress).

Don't get me wrong, the quality of the origin stories is great. But there are too many to make the impact on the main story that they imo deserve. DA:I made a step in the right direction imo, giving race and class of the Inquisitor more perceived weight in the story (I said perceived weight. Again, wether or not it's actually more weighty in the story is irrelevant and I honestly can't tell) but that game has a whole lot of other problems, so lets move on.

Now, there is also DA2. DA2 has one fixed origin story, pretty much the opposite of what the other DAs do, but that one goes too far and is too restrictive. The problem here is, that Hawke as a character is too pre-defined in personality. The wiggle room isn't big enough and you can only play Hawke as three different archetypes, which immensely hurts the replay value, but BioWare learned their lesson (I think) so moving on.

A thing that is super important to me in RPGs is that I have to feel like the character I choose to play makes a difference in the story of the game. So when I have to choose between one more or less fixed origin story and complete freedom to choose my own background that has zero impact on the game, I will always pick the former, because it idially means a more tightly written narrative, as evident in BG (specifically BG2) and PS:T (though I wish PS:T would at least had let me choose the sex of the Nameless One, otherwise I think the set up of the story is a stroke of genius).

Freedom doesn't mean it's a better RPG. Good, tight writing does.
A computer game doesn't feature the luxury of letting the DM tailor the narrative to the needs of the players (yet!),
so some of that freedom has to be sacrificed for the sake of story telling.

I believe the key is to a good origin story in an RPG is to find the golden middle way between freedom, restriction and impact on the main narrative. Leaning too far into one direction is hurtful for the game.

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What makes you a Fallen Paladin in BG1 & BG2

April 23, 2017, 6:06 pm

≫ Next: ranger or fighter cleric, dual or multi?

≪ Previous: In defense of only one (more or less) fixed origin story for the main character.

I was just wondering if there is a good list somewhere about what choices and/or quests will cause your main character Paladin to become a "Fallen Paladin" in either or both Baldur's Gate games? Any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

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ranger or fighter cleric, dual or multi?

April 23, 2017, 2:00 pm

≫ Next: is fair fight possible at all if magic used

≪ Previous: What makes you a Fallen Paladin in BG1 & BG2

Hey all

Just a simple poll to test people's preferences on this.

Advantages to multiclass is simplicity and no down time, however I'd probably just CLUA a fighter/ ranger to 7 before dual classing and beginning the game as a lvl 1 cleric. I don't care about warrior hla's, when comparing to cleric ones.

Advantages to the dual class would be more cleric levels, which are arguably better than levels in any warrior type. It's also pretty nice to just follow the one class after dualing, rather than splitting xp for slower levels all round.

Cheers

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is fair fight possible at all if magic used

March 6, 2017, 6:01 am

≫ Next: Baldur's Gate Reloaded..

≪ Previous: ranger or fighter cleric, dual or multi?

This thing has been bugging me for a long time, longer than I care to remember - some kind of concept of honorable combat, origins probably in Dragonlance´s Sturm´s moustache.

More often than I care to count my party is under crowd control, which while soloing usually means game over. Since such a thing is a nuisance, veritable party killer,

I tend to end up picking spells like Hold Person etc, because the seem so powerful and make the game in general a race of who casts first and moreso who fails save first.

I´m intrigued by wizard slayers and inquisitors, and a playthrough without magic, but I´m left oftentimes to ponder how on earth such a set up will deal with damage if clerics and mages are left out of the party?

Is it truly vainglory that I´m after, or some unbearable headache?

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Baldur's Gate Reloaded..

October 25, 2016, 5:08 pm

≫ Next: You have been waylaid by enemies and must defend yourselves!

≪ Previous: is fair fight possible at all if magic used

Has anybody played through the Neverwinter Nights mod?? Anybody have any thoughts on it?

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You have been waylaid by enemies and must defend yourselves!

June 2, 2016, 11:22 pm

≫ Next: Tricks for SCS mages

≪ Previous: Baldur's Gate Reloaded..

Grab your trusted weapon!

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Tricks for SCS mages

April 25, 2017, 3:46 am

≫ Next: Spell descriptions inconsistency, is this normal?

≪ Previous: You have been waylaid by enemies and must defend yourselves!

Hello, forum.
I've just finished SoA with SCS (and mod that halves my xp for killing monsters; no idea where it came from) - and I gotta admit, there were magical encounters that I found especially challenging. I mean - mages, obviously. What exactly can you do when wizard triggers spell immunity: abjuration and some powerful protections? Is there any way to counter that, except killing him (her) before contingences trigger, or waiting over? Is there a "legit" strategy for those spells?

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Spell descriptions inconsistency, is this normal?

April 24, 2017, 9:25 pm

≫ Next: What's next for Beamdog?

≪ Previous: Tricks for SCS mages

While I was editing wikia, I happen to find that some of my spell descriptions differ from others even we’re using the same 2.3 version.

Creep Doom is one of these examples:
Wikia states “When the caster utters the spell Creeping Doom, he calls forth a horde of venomous, biting and stinging arachnids, insects, and myriapods. This carpet-like mass swarms over a large area, spreading to all creatures within 30 ft. of the target. Those trapped by the insects suffer 2 points of damage each second and a spell failure rate of 100%. For each round the victim remains inside the cloud, he must make a Save vs. Spell at -2 or run away in fear for one round. The advantage of Creeping Doom over the 5th-level counterpart Insect Plague is that it does twice as much damage in half the amount of time.”
Which is roughly the same as Adventure’s Guide.

Mine is “When the caster utters the spell Creeping Doom, he calls forth a horde of venomous biting and stinging arachnids, insects, and myriapods. This carpet-like mass swarms over a large area, spreading to all creatures within 30 feet of the target. Invisibility is no protection.
For the duration of the spell, those affected fight with a -2 penalty to attack rolls and armor class. In addition, each round, the victims suffer 2d6 points of damage from insect bites, have a 100% chance of spell failure, and must make saving throws vs. death at -2 or run away in fear. If a successful save vs. breath at -6 is made, the target manages to avoid most of the swarm, reducing damage from bites by half and completely negating the spell failure penalty.”
Could someone tell me how to test this spell?

Find Familiar is another:
Wikia states ”Quasit
– Hit Points: 12
– Armor Class: 4
– Magic Resistance: 15%
– Combat: 2 attacks per round at 15 THAC0 for 1d3 damage”

Mine is “Quasit
– Hit Points: 24
– Armor Class: 2
– Magic Resistance: 25%
– Combat: 3 attacks per round at 13 THAC0 for 1d6 damage”
In fact, not only Quasit, all other familiars are “upgraded” versions, and I’ve test them in actual game play, they stay true to their descriptions.

My only guess is that there’re some mods modifying those spells I’m not aware of, I do have SCS installed but I didn’t check any spell tweaks, or maybe some spell functions have been changed by patches. Thoughts?

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What's next for Beamdog?

February 15, 2017, 10:11 am

≫ Next: Does Call Lightning work? Has it ever worked?

≪ Previous: Spell descriptions inconsistency, is this normal?

Haven't heard anything, you guys still there

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Does Call Lightning work? Has it ever worked?

April 25, 2017, 4:48 pm

≫ Next: "Forgotten Realms Explained" by Jorphdan

≪ Previous: What's next for Beamdog?

Been going over spells with a fine-toothed comb, and I find that Call Lightning doesn't seem to work as advertised.

Its description says it is supposed to be a 2d8+1d8/Dlevel lightning bolt at a specified target, and then repeat at a random non-ally target every turn for Dlevel/4 turns, but it's got issues.

Unless I'm really missing something, it doesn't seem to work right. In NI and DLTCEP in BG2EE it seems to simply be a 1 shot damage spell, and caps at 20d8 at 18th.

I've checked it with NI in BG1EE and BG1 and I can't find that it ever seemed to be different. Well, in BG1 it only went to like 9th.

I've gone in BG2EE and loaded a save and had J at 10th fire it off at a console-spawned hobgoblin, then went invisible and stood next to more console-spawned hobgoblisn for several minutes. Then used the console to advance time and still didn't do anything.

My guess is they didn't make it work properly partly for technical difficulty and partly for balance reasons. For balance, because at 18th Dlevel it would be 80d8 damage from a mere 3rd level spell. If it scaled to 20th it would be 110d8. For technical reasons making a LONG duration spell that fires at random non-ally target might be a little hard to make and...might have unintended consequences if it hit a neutral party. Like a commoner.

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"Forgotten Realms Explained" by Jorphdan

April 26, 2017, 11:06 am

≫ Next: Beamdog next project?

≪ Previous: Does Call Lightning work? Has it ever worked?

YouTube creator Jorphdan is currently running a pretty nifty webseries that touches upon different aspects of the Forgotten Realms lore that I think a lot of you might enjoy. Here you go.

Playlist with all videos:

All single videos that have been released so far:

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Beamdog next project?

April 13, 2016, 1:59 am

≫ Next: Legit katana wielding cleric

≪ Previous: "Forgotten Realms Explained" by Jorphdan

Hi there, despite all this controversy about SoD, personally I admit I really enjoyed the game. There is only one major issue for me - game is way too short ! Is there any info about Beamdog future projects? I'd love to see another Infinity Engine RPG based in a different part of Faerun with 2nd edition D&D rules and I was wondering if there is more folks like me and if you think such game could find it's place on the market ?

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Legit katana wielding cleric

April 27, 2017, 1:58 am

≫ Next: Baldurs Gate Meme Thread II: Enhanced Edition (Careful, everyone, SPOILERS!)

≪ Previous: Beamdog next project?

Any multiclass thief can chose the use any weapon thief, but - and correct me if I am wrong - you can only put PiPs in your class allowed weapons, which would mean a -5 penalty to katana.

However, dual classes can put PiPs that later simply become useless, as you cannot equip weapons you cannot use... unless you have the use any weapons feat! I think by now you can see where this is going;

Thief lvl 26 xp = 3 520 000* xp = 3 HLA (UAI, shadow twin, shadow maze)
Cleric lvl 27 xp = 4 275 000* xp = 6 HLA (mass raise dead, summon deva, who cares the rest suck)

Eh? Eh?

*You prolly hafta solo or play small team to reach 8 million XP

Edit: I suppose it is also possible to go to thief from cleric (which would reduce the downtime somewhat depending, of course, at which level you dual), but then you cant have a shadowdancer or swashbuckler

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Baldurs Gate Meme Thread II: Enhanced Edition (Careful, everyone, SPOILERS!)

November 21, 2013, 5:16 pm

≫ Next: Collector's edition arrived! Thank you guys

≪ Previous: Legit katana wielding cleric

Going to star this'n out with a few favey-rights from the last thread...

= = = = = = = = =

Kitties aside, it's time for rules. Let me see, here...

Keep It Clean-ish: Let's keep this thread PG-13.
-I'm not saying "Let's make jokes that are appropriate for Leave It To Beaver!", just avoid the profanity and sexual content.
Don't Spoil The Fun!: As far as spoilers go, well, it'd be mighty fine if you could put spoiler tags ( [ spoiler ] [ /spoiler ] , without the spaces) around such things, so people new to this game in need of a quick giggle don't get spoiled like I did on Wikipedia in 2006.

Now I regard spoilers twice as much.
Play Nice: Like Alora says, "Careful, everyone, play nice!". This is a "space" for us to have fun. Let's play nice, and not bait or antagonize (troll) others.
Something Is Wrong, Here...: SCARY_WIZARD thinks you should contact some moderators if a rule appears to have been broken. We have, to my knowledge, @Dee (formerly Aosaw, if you've been absent for a while; the sentientest wombat I ever read things from!), @mInevese, @Nathan, @Coriander, @LadyRhian, @Cuv, @CamDawg (THEY MAKE COOL THINGS), @Jalily, @Metalloman, or any of the other Staff members (whose text happens to be on a blue or grey background).
PLEASE, let us not discuss what caused the other thread to be locked, lest this one get locked, as well, and future meme threads be prohibited!

Here's the officialest rules we can get, from @Dee: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/10852/site-rules-mind-the-gap

= = = = = = = = =

Here's the last thread, in all its high-larious glory: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/3079/baldur-s-gate-meme-thread-spoilers-all-over-the-place/ . A hoot and a half, especially when there was a whole page of CATS! I love cats.

= = = = = = = = =

Here's how to post an image, if you're like me and know HTML and vB Code/UBB Code, but are derpy.
Copy this:

, and paste it, replacing "LINKGOESHERE" with the URL of the image you want to post. Attaching is cool, too, but you might be like me and want to just link.
Here's some stuff on formatting your posts: forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/161/how-to-format-your-posts/p1
I don't do that, but I'm not exactly the best example, am I.

= = = = = = = = =

EDIT: Rules ironed out, as suggested by @Metalloman.

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Collector's edition arrived! Thank you guys

April 28, 2017, 3:23 am

≫ Next: Named Cowled Wizards, alive or dead, Full list

≪ Previous: Baldurs Gate Meme Thread II: Enhanced Edition (Careful, everyone, SPOILERS!)

Dear Beamdog team

From the depth of my dark heart I want to thank you all for collector's edition. I mean - seriously - for a small company getting so quality CE is quite an accomplishment. I used to work in larger game companies that created shitty CE trying to squash every buck from crappy things they put into the boxes.

But not like you. You _delivered_. And for that I thank you thousand times.

I wish you happy development, new ideas, steady income and most of all solid community support.

P.S. Thanks for that little card inside the box.

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